Despite the fact that the highest impact batting and bowling performances in the match came from Australians (Peter Forrest and Daniel Christian), their team still eventually ended up on the losing side. Overall, Sri Lanka had a Team IMPACT of 1.74 as compared to Australia’s 1.63 in this match.

All figures between 0 and 5 unless otherwise mentioned.

SRI LANKA

AUSTRALIA

Observations:

Mahela Jayawardene deservedly got the Man of the match award for his overall Match Impact of 4.64. He was closely followed by Peter Forrest (4.35) and Michael Clarke (3.86) in the overall Match Impact column.

Jayawardene led the Sri Lankan chase (Chasing Impact) with his attacking knock of 85 off 81 balls and had the second highest Batting Impact in the match (3.89).

Earlier in the day Peter Forrest notched up his maiden international century and also registered the highest Batting Impact of the day (4.35). Jayawardene only managed to nudge past Forrest in the overall Match Impact scale due to his Captaincy Impact in the match.

Peter Forrest and Michael Clarke came in for Australia when they were tottering at 27 for 2 after 6.4 overs and hence absorbed pressure for the Australians because of which they had the highest Pressure Impact amongst all the batsmen. They strung together a partnership of 154 runs for the third wicket and therefore also had a high Partnership Impact in the game.

For the Sri Lankans, Dinesh Chandimal again gave a high Impact performance with his knock of 80 runs off 100 balls. His Batting Impact of 3.68 was the second highest amongst all the Sri Lankan batsmen after Jayawardene. His innings had a high Chasing Impact and was again second only to Jayawardene.

In the bowling department Daniel Christian had the highest Bowling Impact of 3.45 followed by Hilfenhaus’ 2.72. For the Sri Lankans Angelo Mathews topped with a Bowling Impact of 2.50 and was followed by Maharoof who had an Impact of 1.90.Daniel Christian took the three crucial wickets of Sangakkara, Thirimanne and Mathews but proved a touch too expensive for the Aussies at the end. His Economy Impact was the worst amongst all the bowlers in today’s match.

Xavier Doherty again proved his worth for the Aussies during the middle overs with his economical figures of 10-1-35-1. He took the vital wicket of Mahela Jayawardene and slowed down the Lankan run chase considerably. His Economy IMPACT was also the best amongst all the bowlers in today’s match.

Even though Angelo Mathews failed to take his team through today, earlier in the day he took the vital wickets of Peter Forrest and Michael Clarke. His dismissal of Clarke also had a Partnership Breaking Impact in the match as it ended a 154 runs partnership for the third wicket.

Thisara Perera who had a terrible day with the ball (Bowling Impact -0.48) managed to turn the tide in his team’s favour with his belligerent batting at the end (Batting Impact (1.39). His knock of 21 runs off 11 balls also had the second highest Strike Rate Impact in the entire match and eventually clinched victory for Sri Lanka.

After playing 261 ODI matches in 26 years, Bangladesh touched the biggest heights of their cricketing history on Tuesday night by reaching the final of the Asia Cup for the first time. More »Team Bangladesh create history